More random stories

1 tiger, 6 lemons, 1 nurse, 2 eagle rays, 9 southern rays - just a typical day in in Bimini.

Stuck in the Mud
Last week we had a bit of an incident in one of the skiffs. It seems we had a spring low tide, so when we went out into the middle of the lagoon, we were fine, but on the way back, we had about a foot of water. So we pushed the boat. Then about 8 inches. Then about 6 inches. Then about 4 inches. Pushing the boat across the flats is no big deal. We do it all the time when we're tracking because we follow the shark at all costs. But pushing through 4 inches of water IS a problem because the boat can't exactly float in that little water. The three of us girls on the crew pretty much carried the boat aross the sand for an hour and a half to get to a point where the boat could actually float. We moved everything to the front of the boat that we could to get the weight off the stern. EVERYTHING. We even unhooked the gas cans and moved them up into the bow. But we still had to lift the boat up in the back on the side of the battery to get it to the point where we weren't grounded. Luckily, we're all tough guys, so we made it. And in time for dinner, no less.

Stranded at the Angler
This is unshark-related, but part of the experience nonetheless...
When we go out, we go to the north island. This requires about a 25 minute walk from the Sharklab to the ferry dock, at which point we wait for the ferry to take us across. It's great, except that we have to rely on the ferry driver to bring us back. And at the end of the night, when he doesn't show up at 1am when he's supposed to, we're kind of...stranded. Luckily, there's always someone with a boat willing to take the Sharklab-ers across. Unfortunately, at 1am, the changes that that person is sober decrease dramatically. Such was the case last Saturday night, when we were lucky to make it back to land. At which point the 25 minute walk back to the lab awaited. Ah, good times.

PS - The above pic is of me and a tiger shark we caught on the longline.